A PETROL station worker is in a critical condition this morning after being carried for half a mile along the road on the bonnet of a car by fuel thieves.

The 58-year-old man was working at the Texaco garage on the A20 London Road in West Kingsdown when thieves tried to steal fuel from the garage at 2.15pm.

As he attempted to stop the thieves from getting away, a man and a woman in the car drove off and carried him for half a mile along the road before he fell to the ground.

The getaway vehicle then sped off, leaving him injured in the road.

Eyewitnesses said there were “police and guts and blood everywhere” following the incident.

Officers are yet to speak with the victim, who is being treated at King’s College Hospital in London, but are appealing for witnesses to come forward.

The car is described as a dark-coloured, small saloon vehicle and officers do not know if it was damaged it any way.

Police shut the A20 in both directions to carry out an investigation but it was re-opened at 5.40pm.